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A. K. BONTA. MEANS FOR ARRESTING MOTION 0F ELECTRIC GARS.

. Patented July 23, 1895.

(No Model.)

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DEIEIDDEIE] To Tra/ley ARTHUR K. BONTA, OF HOBOKEN, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR TO THE BONTA MANUFAOTURINGVOOMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

MEANS FORARRESTING MOTION CF ELECTRIC CARS.

PECIFICATION forming `part of Letters Patent No. 543,435, dated July 23, 1895.

Application filed March 21,189.5 Serial No. 542,633- (No model.)

2@ all whom if may concern: posed to each other before one will overcome Be it known that I, -ARTHUR K. BONTA, a the other. Instances have been known, howcitizen of the United States, residing at I-Ioever, where the motors are so unlike that one beken, in the county of Hudson and State of will reversethe other quickly; but no depend- 55 5 New Jersey, have invented certain new and ence can be placed upon them, and the best useful Improvements in Methods of and Appaand modern practice is to construct the moratus for Arresting Motion of Electric Cars, tors as near alike'as possible. of which the following is a full, clear, and In accordancewith myinvention themotors exact description. are first disconnected from the feedwire or 5o 1o This invention pertains to means for stopsource of propelling-current, and then a short ping or arresting e1ectrically-propelled cars local circuit is established in which is con` or checking their speed by means of their pronected one or more of the propelling-motors. peiling-motors without employing the elec- It only one motor is included therein, its field tricity from the supplyconductor or other and armature connections are simultaneously 65 r 5 source from which the propelling-current is reversed with respect to each other, and if two derived. In United States Patent t0 S. H. or more motors are included in the circuit the Short, dated May 3,1892,No. 474,031, one way field and armature connections of each are reof carrying out this method is described. It vversed with respect to each other and the sevconsists in disconnecting the motors from the eral motors are placed in series relation to one 7o gc source of propelling-current, reversing the reanother-z'. e., with the positive pole ot' one lation of the armature and fields, and connectmotor connected with the negative pole of the ing them in a closed local circuit in such a next motor in the short circuit. With this manner'that when they are rotated by the momethod of connection the forward momentum mentum of the carin a forward direction the of the car drives each motor as a generator, 75 2 5 electromotive force generated by each opand the currents generated by all of them will poses that of the other and tends to produce -be in the same direction through the circuit. a current in a direction to increase its ownV Hence onemotor,instead of opposinganother, field-magnetism and cut down that of the aids it, and the field-magnetism of all motor`s other. One motor, (generator,) therefore, has is increased alike. Motorsoperated as gen- 8o 3o the tendency to overpower the other, which erators in this manner act instantly to retard it does after an indefinite interval, depending the car, because the attraction between the upon the difference ofresidual magnetism in fields and armatures which existed when the the motors or upon the ability of one to build machines were operating as motors has become up or become magnetized faster than the other. reversed by the change of polarity between 85 3 5 The weaker motor has its field-polarity rethe fields and armatures and the momentum versed by the stronger, and is thereafter opof the car is consumed by the attraction beerated as a motor in the direction to run the tween them tending to prevent the rotation car backward by current supplied from the of the armatures in the forward direction. more powerful motor acting as a generator. My method of stopping cars is much more 9o 4o From this it follows that when the motors are rapid than that heretofore practiced, as above first thrown together in the local circuit their described, because it becomes effective the positive terminals are connected together and moment the connections are made, whereas the negative terminals together, or, in other by the old method it requires time for one mawords, the motors are connected together in chine to reverse the other. 95 45 multiple. This method of arresting cars has Incarrying out my invention, I place upon been found to be very unreliable and often the motormans platform a switch which I too slow in action to prevent the accidents preferably combine with the regular car-con- Which it is designed to avoid. The reason for troller. If a series parallel or other form this is that many times a pair of motors are of controller is used in which conductors from los 5o so nearly alike or balanced magnetically and the several terminals of the motors are lead electrically that they will run a long time opto the controller-stand, I utilizev the same set of conductors for my closed local circuit, and it therefore is only necessary to provide on or near the controllenstand a suitable contact device to co-operate with the terminals of the group of conductorsfound in the controllerstandand with which the regular car-controlling contact devices also co-operate.

I will now describe my invention in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure l is a plan in dotted lines of the track and lower framework of the car, showingin full lines the cables extendingfrom the motors to the controlling devices on the platforms. Fig. 2 is a plan of the top of one of the controller-stands. Fig. 3 is a diagram of circuits, showing how the connections are made to propel the car forward by its motors and also for arresting or stopping the car in accordance with my invention.

Electric cars are ordinarily controlled by a motorman who stands upon the forward platform and manipulates an electrical controller and a brake. The control-ler is operated by means of alever attached to a cylinderadapted to be rotated step by step thereby, and thus alter the connections to the motors for stopping, starting, and varying the speed of the car. It is common to provide a second lever attached to a separate cylinder and having two running positions. This second lever is called the reversi iig-lever, and when thrown into one of its positions the car may be started and moved forward at any speed by means of the controlling-lever, and when said reversing-lever is in its other position the car may be started and moved backward at any speed by the controlling-lever. To accomplish this reversal the cylinder connected with the reversingslever is provided with two rows of contacts which are thrown into contact with a stationary row of fingers. The fingers are permanently connected by wires or otherwise with the brushes and field-magnet terminals of the two motors. Then connection exists between the fingers and one row of contacts on the cylinder the circuits are such as to cause the motors to rotate in a certain direction, and when the fingers are in connection with the second row of contacts certain reversals of current are accomplished which canse the motors to rotate in the opposite direction.

In carrying out my invention I prefer to add to the reversing-cylinder a third row of contacts, which are adapted to be brought into connection with the fingers and thereby establish a short closed circuit, including the two motors in series.

Referring to the drawings, No. l and No. 2, respectively, represent the two motors. The conductors leading from the armature and field-magnet terminals tothe controller-stand terminatethereinonaconneeting-board at the points a, l), c, (Z, c, f, g, and h, whence branches lead to the controlling and reversing cylinder hereinafter referred to. The wires from the brushes of motor No.1 lead respectively to the points l) and c, while the `field-terminals are represented by et and d. The wires from the brushes of motor No. 2 lead respectively to the pointsfand r/, while the field-magnet terminals are indicated by e and 7L.

In the plan of the top of the controllexestamd, (indicated in Fig. 2,) A represents the starting, stopping, and speedvarying lever known in practice as the controlling-lever. It is attached to and rotates a cylinder inside ofthe case. In the position in which the lever is shown the current is supposed to be cut oil'. Two stops a and 0.2 are provided to limit its movement.

B represents'the reversing-lever. VWhen running in one direction this lever is against the stop b', as indicated in full lines, and when running in the opposite direction the lever is against the stop b2, as indicated in dotted lines.

For the purposes of my invention I make the stop b2 adjustable by embodying it in the form of a short arm or lever pivoted at the fixed point b3, and thus capable of being lifted to permit the reversing-lever to assume a third position. (Indicated by the dotted lines b4.) In this third position the cylinder to which the lever is attached, and which is indicated by the dotted lines c, is at the posh tion'to establish contact between the lingers referred to and the third row of contactipoints.

Referring now to Fig. 3, t' and 7' respectively represent the ordinary two rows ot' contact-points used heretofore in practice. 7a represents the stationary row of fingers adapted to be brought into connection with the contacts on the cylinder by rotating the latter. Z represents the third row of contacts, which I have added to the cylinder, and in it there are eight points corresponding respectively with the eight fingers 7.5. These contacts are lettered respectively m, n, o, p, q, r, s, and l.. The contacts m and o on the cylinder are per manently connected together by wire l. Uontacts n and t are connected together by wire 2. Contacts p and v' are connected together by wire 3, and contacts q and s are connected together by wire Ll. Branch wires from the eight terminals ci, b, c, dac., ot' the motors lead, respectively to the eight fingers 7a, while other branch wires (indicated in dotted lines) lead to the car-controlling devices.

In controllers of the class referred to, wherein a controlling and a reversing lever are used, it is customary to provide an interlocking device, whereby the reversing-lever may be held at the cut-off` position. Such intere locking device, by a slight modification or addition, may be used, in connection with the improvement herein described, to prevent the third movement of the reversing-lever until the controlling-lever is at the cut-olf position and to prevent the movement of the controlling-lever until the reversing-lever has been set to one of the running positions.

IIO

The operation is as follows: Vhen the car is running forward under normal conditions,

the row of contacts t' on the reversing-cylinthe motors in the directions indicated by the small arrows, the two motors operating Vin parallel and each rotating in a direction to send the car forward. Now, assume the car to be under headway on a downgrade and by accident or otherwise the regular brake mechanism fails to work and the car starts to run.

away, or assume that a collision with a vehicle or a person is imminent andthe car cannot be stopped quickly enough by ordinary means. In such instances and whenever a quick stop is desirable the motorman would have recourse to my improvement. He first throws the controlling-lever to the off position, and thus severs the car from the line entirely, as indicated at w. He then lifts the adjustable stop h2 and swings the reversinglever to the third position, bringing points Z into contact respectively with lingers 7c, thus establishing` a short complete circuit including the two car motors in series with each other and with the armature-terminals of eac-l1 motor reversed. The momentum of the car keeps the motors rotating in the same forward direction, and thus both machines are converted into generators, and inasmuch as their, armature-leads have been reversed and they are connected in series with each other the current generated byeach machine will leave its armature in the opposite direction to which it 4did when the machines were running as motors, and we trace the current as follows: starting at brush 5 of No. l machine we have current owing from the armature by wire 6, contact o, wire l, contact m, wire 7, field-magnet of No. l machine, wire 8, contact p, wire 3, contact r,'wire 9, brush 10 of No. 2l machine, armature, brush 11, wire 12, contact s, wire 1t, contactg, wire 13, ield-mag net of No. 2 machine, wire let, contact t, wire 2, contact n, and finally by wire I5 to brush 16 and into the armature and brush 5. It will thus be seen that the current generated by each machine traverses the fields of both in the same direction that the propelling-current formerly did and builds up or strengthens them; butin the armatures the current is reversed, as indicated by the heavy arrows. This results in an attraction between the armature and field-magnets of each machine in a direction lto hold, back or stop the car. The current generated in this closed circuit is immediately very great, and a'car moving at a high speed will be stopped Within a few feet if on a level, and if on a grade will slow down to a creeping pace.

The primary use for which this invention is designed is to prevent accidents on grades. Many instances are recorded-of brakes, giving out on downgrades and the high speed or vibration of the car throwing the trolley oft,

thus rendering ineffective the practice which motormen are'instructed to resort to-to wit, reversing the motors. 'When the trolley is off the wire, the main current is not available as a power to stop the car; but by my invention the retarding-power is generated automati callyfby and in direct proportion to the speed of the car. In this connection it should be pointed out that by my invention, if the efficiency of the motors was one hundred per cent. andthe traction was perfect, the car would be stopped instantly, but as such conditions do. not exist in practice the car will be stopped in the quickest possible time.

It is obvious that the third row Z of contacts on the reversing-cylinder may be placed upon a separate cylinder and operated by means of an independent handle. It is also obvious that my switching apparatus is not confined to a combination with the particular type of controller herein referred to. It will be observed that the type of controller herein referred to operates to vary the speed by altering the connections of the field-coils of the motors, and this is the most modern and approved form of controller.v It, however, necessarily involves running a large number of wires between the controller-stand and the motors. particular eontrollerI utilize these extra wires for the short circuit which it involves and do not find it necessary to add any apparatus whatever beyond the row of contacts g, the

adjustable stop h2 not being essential, although useful. In consequence of this I am able to equip a car with my invention at a very small expense.

I may add that inasmuch as this invention is designed as a safety device to prevent accidents and not as a graduating-brake the short'circuit into which the motor or motors are thrown should not contain any other translating device or substantial resistance,

Inapplying my invention to thisA roo either fixed or variable, for the reason that any such device or resistance would defeat the very object of the invention-to wit, to stop the car in the shortest possible period.

Having thus described my invention, I claiml.y Inl an electric c ar the combination of a propelling motor or motors, a controller stand located on the motormans platform and containing a car controlling switch and a sepa rate reversing switch the latter consisting of a cylinderl having three sets of contact points thereon and a set of stationary ngers or terminals with which said sets of contact points are adapted to engage; one set establishing connections to send the car forward, another set to send the car backward, and the third set to reverse the relation of the eld magnet and armature connections and establish a closed local circuit in which the terminals of the motor or motors, will be connected in series, substantially as described.

2. In an electric car the combination of a propelling motoror motors, a controller stand located on the inotormans platform and containing a car controlling switch and a separate car reversing switch7 the latter consisting of a cylinder having three sets of contact points thereon and a set of stationary fingers or terminals with which said sets ot' contact points are adapted to engage, one set establishing connections to send the car forward, another set to send the car backward, and the third set to establish a closed local circuit in which the terminals of the motor or motors will be connected together for the purpose set forth.

In an electric car, the combination of two propelling motors, a' controller stand located on the motormans platform, said controller stand containing two circuit changing cylinders; one for reversing, and one for varying the speed, a short circuit including both motors in series, a circuit controller for said short circuit, located upon said reversing cylinder, and a lever for operatingsaidv reversing cylinder, the lever having two stops one of which is adjustable.

4:. In an electric car, two propelling motors, a controller stand located on the motormans platform, a controller located in said stand and conductors leading Afrom the motors to terminals on said stand whereby the speed'of the motors may be changed, all in combination with a reversing switch located in said stand and controlling' the course of the eurrent over said conductors, the reversing switch having extra contacts by means 0E which the motors may be thrown into series in a closed local circuit, substantially as described.

5. In an electric car, two propelling motors, a controller stand locatedon the motornians platform, a controller located in said stand and conductors leading from the motors to ARTHUR K. BONTA. 1Witnesses:

FRANK S. OBER, WM. A. Rosi'iNn-tmi. 

